FRANK AND WALTERS are a unique group who have always wanted to get up on stage and play live. Drummer Ashley Keating is still on cloud nine:
"If anyone told me a decade ago I would be on stage playing music in a group I love from my hometown Cork I would have never have stopped laughing." Ashley is a big soul fan and grew up listening to legends like Aretha Franklin and Al Green and the group have been clearly influenced by soul. "Soul is great music. At times it takes you a long time to appreciate but when you do, it is better than sex."                              
                                                           
The group members are firmly focused on their music, and haven’t fallen prey to record company dictates about image and style.
"Nobody pushes us around and we will do what we feel it right and that it the way is will always be," says Ashley. "It would be really easy to sign up for a major label but we would have no input into our music and our destiny. And that’s bad for artists and for the music business."    
                                                     
The Frank And Walters were the first group to give Radiohead their big break when they supported Cork’s finest in 1993 and never had to pay for the privilege — It’s not uncommon nowadays for groups playing support slots to have to pay up to £2,000 to the headline act for the exposure."We would never pay to support anyone and we would not charge anyone who supports us. It’s not all about getting your pound of flesh. It’s about giving groups a break and we are delighted that Radiohead are so successful."                                                                                                                                             
The Franks have added a new member to the line up, keyboard player Sarah De Courcy. Sarah is a graduate of the famous Chetham Music School in England and joined the band after a chance encounter with one of the staff from Setanta at a Divine Comedy gig. Since their discovery in 1990 by the ever productive Setanta Records, The Frank & Walters have lived life at unfamiliar breakneck speed: constant gigging, a move to London and a switch to a major label.                                                                                                                                                                                        
After a year of constant touring in the UK and Europe, they headlined the second stage at Reading Festival in August 1993, flying high on the back of their acclaimed debut album, Trains, Boats and Planes and the release of four EPs which culminated in the single, After All, reaching No 11 in the UK charts.

Opting to take a break from the hurly burly of London town at this point, The Franks returned to their hometown of Bishopstown in Cork. In early 1994, Paul Linehan began writing new material and the band resolved to make an album at their own speed.
Building up a selection of twenty three tracks The Franks went into September Sound the Twickenham studios of the Cocteau Twins) with producer Dave Couse, The result was a brand new album The Grand Parade.                                                                                                                                                            
Record company problems erupted, however, causing chaos in the run up to the release of the album. Disillusioned with the whole affair, The Franks clicked their collective heels together and said, "there’s no place like Setanta!"                                                                                                                                                 
The new lease of life for The Franks began with the release of Colours in March 1997. And this year, the Frank and Walters released their third album Beauty Becomes More Than Life.